'Murder on the Orient Express' new film...the loco build..

[Deleted]

Hi guys

I thought that I would share some photo's of the loco set, that was built for theis film, I was sworn to secrecy about this over a year ago but now that the film has been released can see no reason why I can't share some of the images given to me of this very impressive film set.

I don't know the class, I'll leave that to the experts on European steam among you.. here's a few pictures of the build, these are after 6 weeks worth of CAD and 5 weeks on the physical build itself, IIRC this involved a 30 man crew who also built a number of rigs for the action sequences, these rigs needed a tilt of 25 degrees for the avalanche action sequence....the rig had to hold the whole loco....











Here we have the completed loco sitting on a 1000yd stretch of track purpose built for the action shots.





This is why the UK leads the world in filmwork and leads it by some margin....

hope it's of interest

Pete

[smallbrother]

Cor. Some real FAKE engineering there!

Very impressive. Do you recommend the film itself?

Pete.

[runner42]

Hi Pete,

I and others would like to know more on the technical details, say for example how was it powered, there appears to be bogies between the wheels. But for realism the locomotive wheels would need to turn to produce the movement of the valve gear. All very intriguing and I am surprised that with the level of realism achieved by computer generated models that there is still a need to go to full size mock ups. Those wheels look like they have been made from original castings. 

Brian

[barlowworks]

Looking at the gearing on the axles could it be like a Hornby OO electric train set but on a much bigger scale.

Mike

[92220]

That's an amazing bit of 'model engineering' Pete! What is it made of? Wood or metal? The photo inside the frames makes it look like metal. That would be some heavy mock-up to get moving! It must give a real 'buzz' to be involved in something like that! The film is on, this week, at our local cinema. We'll have to try and get in to see it.

Bob.

[silverfox]

Peter

Get pinewood to try and sell the wheels to Brian Hall of the B17 build!!

[Lisa]

From a bit of a look around it looks to be base on the French 241-000 series (note the number 241-010 on the smoke deflectors): thierry.stora.free.fr/english/pgalest1.htm
That site also says the class is popular with model engineers, which could by why it was chosen for the movie; they might have scaled up some model plans to full size!

Fascinating pictures Pete, ta.

[Deleted]

Morning guys

right now my knowledge on this is limited as I didn't work on it and haven't met up with anyone in person who has yet. As I said I was given these a year ago and have ony shared them now as the film has been officially released, having said that could I please ask that the pictures stay on the forum for now and not shared across the globe, I'm sure that more details will come out in due course. The things that I do know, the loco had a steam generator fitted inside, the fire was real, construction material was steel, total build time was 6 weeks CAD and 6 weeks build, so 12 in total. At this point in time I don't know what propelled the unit, I do know that it travelled at speeds of 15-20mph along the 1000 yd. track laid at Longcross studio's. A large scale model had been considered but they went with the full size build instead, this could be purely down to the visual Effects supervisor wanting to make a statement, who knows? As stated the whole unit was designed to tilt 25 degrees and in most cases when doing these types of shots they have to be repeatable in case you don't get the 'money shot' first time around, these things are usually planned for 3 goes but if budget is limited it has been known to be a 'one hit wonder' too.... not always a good idea for obvious reasons, alas I don't know the shoot details.
The small wheels seen may have something to do with the tilt rigs or could be the method of propulsion, any seen on the final shots would have been removed 'in post' during editing after the final wrap on shooting.

I believe that this set will not be broken up and will be put into a museum, as for where I don't currently know.

Just to repeat, please keep these images on here until I know it's ok for a wider audience...

Kind regards

Pete

[dhamblin]

That's an impressive piece of design, sometimes with films they do bring out a book outlining how it was produced so maybe more details will be revealed in due course.

The real Orient Express cars were brought through the Channel Tunnel for a publicity event in the Eurostar platforms at St Pancras International on Thursday. Some photos were put on Flickr of them at Dollands Moor yard by someone who works there:

www.flickr.com/photos/35502189@N03/37385182054/

Regards,

Dan

[miken]

Just come back from seeing the film. A few close ups of the loco's wheels and motion and cab side that last a couple of seconds each. Some distance shots of the complete train that look cgi.
Most of the film seems to centre around close ups of Kenneth Branagh's spectacular moustache.
I nodded off briefly at one point so there may have been more interesting stuff.

[Deleted]

The main reason for the loco set is for the Avalanche shot or what we in the industry call the 'money shot'....it's very possible and probably likely that distance shots are CGI....the only other way for these is a model and as I said models were ruled out although were discussed.....cgi is much cheaper....

Pete

[pugsy]

Looking at the trailer for the film, Poirot looks rather like Sir Herbert Nigel Gresley...

[pault]

Be very interesting to have a build thread on this. I keep looking in the background as I worked in what is now Stage 1 when it was Auto Labs and later in the hanger beside the skid pan

[trainman]

Now at a station near you:

www.railforums.co.uk/threads/bassenthwaite-lake-station.196779/